The present invention relates to wireless access of Internet content, in particular to the use of a portable camera/cell phone device for scanning bar codes and automatically downloading associated web content that is linked to the scanned bar code.
Systems exist in the prior art that allow a user to scan a bar code such as a product UPC code (or other machine-readable indicia), decode the bar code data, and send the decoded bar code data to an offsite server computer, where the server computer looks up a URL associated with that bar code in a database and sends the retrieved URL back to the user's computer. A browser at the user's computer then uses the URL to retrieve web content associated with the URL. This type of system, for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,978,773 and 6,199,048 (owned by the assignee of the present invention, NeoMedia Technologies, Inc.), allows a user to automatically link to web content by simply scanning a bar code with a scanner attached to the user's PC. In another type of system, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,933, also owned by NeoMedia Technologies, Inc., a special bar code known as a PaperClick code is scanned, and the decoded data in parsed into two portions (a server ID and an item ID), with the server ID used to retrieve a URL template that is sent back to the user's PC, which then assembles a full URL by inserting the item ID from the bar code into the URL template, which is then used to retrieve the linked web content.
It is desired to be able to utilize this type of automatic web content retrieval system with portable devices that are not tethered to the user's PC. Such a portable device would allow a user to automatically access linked web content at any location, and not just when using his desktop PC. However, portable devices that can scan barcodes are not widely deployed. In addition, it is most convenient for the person scanning a PaperClick code or UPC code to be able to see the results immediately, even if they are not at their computer. A desired application for a portable device under this invention is for a user to enter a Barnes & Noble store, see a book he likes, scan the barcode on the back, and see what Amazon.com's price is, all without involving anything that one would normally consider a computer.